My name is Susanna Santiago. My story is this….I was 12 years old when I heard Billy Graham speak on Television, I don’t know who turned on the TV on or if I did but I do know no one was around and I felt like Dr. Graham was talking to me. He asked if, “you need a Bible” he said take down the address so I did, he said a bible would be sent to me, and a Bible was sent to me I tried to read it but I couldn’t understand it so I gave up, but the words stuck with me that God Loved Me, and I had to believe it.

I had a hard life..I’m a middle child of nine children…there are 4 older than me and 4 younger than me. I never felt like I fitted in, I struggled with many issues, I was abused by my oldest brother, he use to whip me with an extension cord when my mother would leave for work, all because I am stubborn. He tried making me the remote control before there was a remote control for the television. My brother would call me to change channels for him so he wouldn’t have to get up, I rebelled, got whipped, ran out of the house and would spend the night out at neighbors house. I never told my mother, one day the neighbor waited and told my mother off asking her what kind of mother was she to allow my brother to whip me like that leaving whelps.

I got married at 18 only to have an abusive husband who would beat me up. One day my mother came to visit me, when I opened the door all black and blue, busted lip and swollen eye lids, she help me pack and leave that instant. I only stayed away for 6 months I got homesick, so I came back to my husband only to be beaten up again, this time my brother made me get the divorce, and threatened my husband that he should never touch me again. We finally left each other and I raised our son by myself without any support from my ex-husband. The Lord came into my life and totally turn it around when my mother asked me to go see what my brother was doing because he was getting baptized and my mother has told me she already did this when he was a baby. So, I went to witness the baptism and when someone cried out AMEN, I started laughing…I felt like a Zacchaeus, later as I attended the church to see what was going on… as the Word sunk in, it was obvious to me that My life had to change if He was to be Lord of it, so he gave me verses..Matt 6:33, Eph 2:8,9,10..Ps 139..The Lord has not stopped speaking to me, in fact He has shown me what is good and right in his sight.

Jump to age 50, and I still a believer no matter the ups and downs, the valley or hills, I know one thing GOD love me, just as I am and he knows me, I converted to following the Lord later in my twenties, I’ve been baptized and I love sharing God’s word to whoever will listen, the message is still one of Salvation and Love. I accepted the LORD AT AGE 12…yet in my later life did I understand why all the ups and downs and MY WALK HAS been more permanent in Christ, I confirmed our relationship in 1987, I got baptized, I have weathered storms in my life, but one thing always sees me through is that Jesus Loves me this I know.

I have always wanted to tell Dr. Billy Graham he has meant alot to me, I look back at my younger days and understand God has a plan for my life, he saved me for his purpose and I belong to him, for I am a child. My life is so full of the stories that come with knowing Jesus, for this I thank Dr. Billy Graham. Its an ongoing journey.